Who was the drummer for the Tennessee Three?

W. S. “Fluke” Holland was the drummer for the Tennessee Three. He joined Johnny Cash’s backing group around 1959, helping transform the earlier Tennessee Two into the Tennessee Three.

Holland was already an experienced musician. He had played drums on Carl Perkins’s 1955 recording of “Blue Suede Shoes” and participated in the famous Million Dollar Quartet session with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Cash. His steady, forceful style became part of the rhythmic sound associated with Cash’s records and live performances.

The other choices were also important Tennessee Three musicians, which makes this question easy to mix up. Luther Perkins played lead guitar, while Marshall Grant played bass. Bob Wootton later became one of Cash’s principal guitarists after Perkins’s death in 1968, but he was not the group’s drummer.

Holland remained associated with Cash’s band for decades, including the later Johnny Cash Show Band. He died in 2020 at age 85.